Illegal mining picks up as water level in Beas goes down

With water level in the Beas river going down, illegal mining has picked up in the Jaisinghpur area due to the absence of any check from the state agencies.

A dozen of tractor-trailers, trucks and dumpers can be seen extracting sand and gravel at different points of the riverbed. Illegal mining on a large-scale in the Jaisinghpur area has become a matter of concern even as the Himachal Pradesh High Court and the state government have imposed a ban on mining in the Beas here.

Illegal mining is not only causing daily loss worth lakhs to the exchequer, but also resulting in large-scale environmental degradation.

Not only government land, but private parcels have also been affected by illegal mining. Many residents complained that because of large-scale extraction of stones with the help of JCB machines, private lands have developed deep trenches.

They said many domestic animals had died after falling into the deep trenches dug by the mining mafia. The residents added that despite their repeated complaints to the local authorities, no action has been taken.

Heavy vehicles being used to transport mining material were damaging roads and village paths, which have developed deep big potholes. The residents said most stone crushers had been functioning in residential areas, causing large-scale pollution in adjoining villages. While many residents were suffering from pulmonary diseases, some had also become asthmatic at a young age.

There are specific orders of the state government, NGT and High Court imposing a ban on the use of heavy machinery such as earth-movers for mining, but such equipment are being used openly in Jaisinghpur for extracting mining material from local rivulets.